Wednesday, January 21, 2004
MORE DIZZEE-NESS

Not talking Gephart's stunning fall. Oh yeah, Jon Stewart's line of the night, on John Kerrey: "They don't call him Mr. Excitement for--well, they don't call him Mr. Excitement."

Anyway, the time-killing topic at hand is Ben Williams sez critics don't know where to place Dizzee in relation to American rap. Resisting the snarky urge to say it's because they don't know how to, while not resisting the urge to beat this topic into the ground (because for us bloggerati Dizzee is so, you know, '03), let me float a few comparisons...

*"I Luv U" updates Ice Cube's "You Can't Fade Me" topically (you remember the aggravating track in which narrator imagines "kicking the bitch in the tummy"--another irresponsible lad not dealing well with the consequences of casual sex) with the dialogical method of "It's A Man's World" (tho the woman goes uncredited here, wow). A double-whammy. (Actually a triple if you figure in the college-girl turnabout thing of "Look Who's Burning Now" from DC.)

*"Sitting Here" recalls Nas's "Life's A Bitch"--life as a mask or a front, the strange in-betweenness of trying to detach from the street while having to engage it to survive, the feeling of time slowing down and speeding up at the same time, everything bad happening in John Woo slo-mo at the same time youthful innocence is stolen prematurely. (Plus there's AZ's oh-shit-I-got-the-mic-first enthusiasm which brings us to the next thought...)

*Rascal's delivery recalls young LL Cool J (or if less generous, MC Shan)--excitable, high-pitched, aggressive. Downside of this analogy: Britrap still awaits its Rakim.



posted by Zentronix @ 1:30 PM   0 comments

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

 

Previous posts
RAS DIZZEE & THE FUTURE SHOCKERS + THE HIP HOP ST...
FEELING DIZZEE Here's something on Dizzee Rascal ...
A HIP-HOP GENERATION AGENDA: WHERE DO WE GO FROM H...
A DIVIDER, NOT A UNITER And paper-thin, too. Here...
CAWKUSSING AND MANLIMAN-NESS Mosely-Braun's gone,...
GOOD/BAD/HORRIFYING, VERSION #9843 From the They ...
Augustus Pablo-King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown De...
WITH RECOVERIES LIKE THIS, WHO NEEDS RECESSIONS? ...
A QUICK WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR Just got off the ph...
ACHG ON BLAST OK, here's the gotdamn Da Capo rant...


select * from pages where handle = "BlogLinks" #content#

Archives
June 2002
July 2002
August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
 

Email list

Add me to the Can't Stop Won't Stop email list, an irregular update of what's new in our world:

Submit